This is a writ petition filed by one Sri Bansi Ram Das challeng­ing an order of the Government of Assam refusing to allow him to continue in ser­vice as Professor of Physics in the Govt. Cotton College, Gauhati beyond the age of 55 years. The petitioner's case is that he joined the Physics Department in the aforesaid college as a Lecturer in the year 1946 and was promoted to the post of Professor and was confirmed in that post with effect from 1-8-60. The petitioner contends that during the time he worked as the Professor and the Head of the Department of Physics, the results of his students at the University examination were uniformly brilliant. In the year 1965, the results of B.Sc, Part II examination were so excellent as to bring commendation from the Secretary to the Government of Assam in the Education Department vide Annexure I to the peti­tion. It is further contended that being satisfied with his work, the Government of Assam allowed the petitioner to cross the efficiency bars in his pay scale. In 1963, the Government of Assam decided to raise the retirement age of Govern­ment employees from 55 years to 58 years, and those Government servants who were due to